October 28, 2024

Agenda

1. Starter: 10/28

   • Directions: Watch the video and answer the following question: What role does asking questions play in the creation of new knowledge?

2. Activity: Knowledge Changes Over Time

   • Today you are going to be looking at how and why knowledge changes over time. To support this, you need to find some examples.

     • You will be divided into three groups: society, science, or the arts.

     • Your task is to draw a very rough, general timeline of key events and turning points for your topic over the last 500 years. The idea here is not to create a deep and comprehensive outline.

       • Instead it is to get you thinking about time, change, and the role of knowledge. Specifically the focus is on how and why knowledge changes over time

     • There are two key concepts: paradigm shifts and catalysts/drivers/reasons for change.

     • If the task is overwhelming at first, ask yourself about before and after – what was the situation regarding knowledge in your area 500 years ago and what is it like now?

     • Find large events, turning points, and key changes across your timeline. Look for no more than between four and six events.

       • For society, these could be focusing on war, civil and political rights, revolutions, etc.

       • For science students should quite easily find Galileo, Darwin, Mendeleev, Einstein, CERN, etc.

       • The arts again should be a reasonably obvious structure involving anyone from Mozart, to Elgar, or Picasso, to Banksy should they wish.

     • The content is not as important as the evaluation of change afterwards, so it is very flexible.

     • Once you have made a very crude timeline of human history in your topic, now the key is for you to focus on the reason for change and the impact on knowledge. This is one of the first explicit mentions of the process and production of knowledge.

     • You have 10 minutes to prepare a presentation titled ‘How and why does knowledge change in ...’ which you then present to the whole class.

       • Make sure the presentations have a time limit and are focused on the main question and not the content.

       • The presentations do not need to be slick; what I am looking for is whether you can hit on knowledge issues relating to the growth of knowledge, paradigm shifts, and the inter-relationship of the three areas.